And the word of Jehovah came unto me, saying,
A fresh message reaches Ezekiel, and what he must deliver is a picture: a forest on fire. His hearers brush it off as riddle-talk, which leaves two questions — what does the burning woodland stand for, and why does God speak in pictures at all?
The phrase "south field" — ESV: "the forest land in the Negeb", the southern region — carries a picture: farmland gone back to wild woods. One writer sees Judah's own story in that change:
The idea here is that the cultivated "field" has, so to speak, grown wild — grown into a forest, as we know happened with Judah. When that happens, the richness of the soil and the care once given to it only make the wild growth thicker. It is the common story of privileges and blessings of every kind turned to bad use.
Commentators differ on what land is meant. The writer above names Judah. Darby, asked about it, was not sure:
Question: Is "the forest of the south field," in Ezekiel 20:46, Jerusalem? — I do not know; I am more inclined to think it was Egypt. In the next chapter, we find Israel and Jerusalem.
These verses sit oddly at the end of chapter 20, and one writer explains why:
What appears in our usual Bibles as the end of chapter 20 (verses 45-49) belongs instead with chapter 21 in the Hebrew and in some ancient versions. It pictures the conquest of Judea as a forest on fire. God directs the prophet to set his face and prophesy about the south, and says it in three forms with great emphasis.
God gives the command three times over, and then comes the fire. A blaze in dry woodland does not pick between one tree and another:
God's wrath is like a devouring fire, which seizes everything in front of it... The outward disaster reaches all alike, and the green tree suffers along with the dry. But God knows how to turn that very suffering into blessing for His people, as eternity will show.
Nothing escapes, and that is what makes the source of the fire unmistakable:
Judgment was going out against all, whether strong or withered... The completeness of the judgment would prove the hand of Jehovah.
One writer asks why the flame travels the way it does, and answers from what followed:
But a flame is devouring the land from south to north. Why this direction, when the enemy's invasion came from north to south? It seems that the hint is what in fact happened: the destruction of Jerusalem would scatter the people mostly northward, as it did, and would follow them there. This was to be the unmistakable evidence of God's own judgment. God would be glorified in it at a time when His people were not glorifying Him but dishonoring Him.
The fire spares neither green tree nor dry, and one writer traces both:
Jesus Himself was the "green tree," according to Psalm 1, and perhaps He was alluding to the parable of Ezekiel 20:45-49. In that scripture God predicts a flame upon every green tree and every dry tree. Judgment fell upon the "green tree" when Christ suffered for our sakes. When the fire breaks out in the dry tree of the Jews who have turned away from God, it will not be quenched.
His hearers write the prophet off as a man who only speaks in riddles. The complaint says more about them than about the message:
The word was plain enough; but man finds difficulties in understanding what he does not like.
Picture-language is not an excuse for missing the point.
Long ago people complained about the prophets, that they "spoke parables" (Ezekiel 20:49). Still, disciples at least should understand them. "Do you not understand this parable? How then will you understand all the parables?" the Lord once asked His twelve disciples (Mark 4:13). The Lord does not play games with us. He does not invite us to see what He forbids us to understand.
- Field — God's farmland had run wild into forest. Privilege abused only feeds the wild growth.
- Forest — the picture is Judea conquered, drawn as woodland on fire. In Hebrew these verses open chapter 21 instead of closing chapter 20.
- Fire — God's wrath devours all before it, green tree and dry alike. He turns that same suffering into blessing for His own.
- Flame — it runs south to north because judgment would follow the scattered people there, until all could see whose hand lit it.
- Tree — the fire fell on the green tree when Christ suffered. Those who call the warning a riddle are refusing what they do not like.
Son of man, set thy face toward the south, and drop [words] against the south, and prophesy against the forest of the south field;
Ezekiel has just retraced Israel's whole history of rebellion. Now the word turns to one direction on the map: the south, where Judah and Jerusalem lay. God announces a fire there that will burn green wood and dry wood alike. The prophet's own reaction shows how hard such a message is to hear.
These closing verses open a fresh message that runs into the next chapter. They picture the coming invasion as a forest fire.
What our ordinary Bibles print as the end of chapter 20 (verses 45-49) belongs with chapter 21 in the Hebrew and in some ancient versions. It pictures the conquest of Judea as a forest on fire. The prophet must set his face and prophesy about the south, a direction stated in three forms with great emphasis… Judgment was going out against all, whether they were vigorous or withered.
Another writer marks the same break, and names Nebuchadnezzar — the king of Babylon — as the invader:
From verse 45 a new prophecy begins. It applies the threats of the prophecy before it to the events that will carry them out: the invasion by Nebuchadnezzar, which chapter 21 unfolds.
The ESV calls the region "the Negeb." The verse points the prophet that way three times over. One writer reads the direction as Judah, the prophet's own homeland.
The fire of judgment to sweep over the south field (Judah) is announced in the final paragraph (verses 45-49).
Commentators differ here. Asked whether the forest of the south field means Jerusalem, one writer answered: "I do not know; I would rather think it was Egypt. In the next chapter, we find Israel and Jerusalem" (J. N. Darby).
The phrase puts together two words that do not belong together: cultivated ground and wild woodland.
According to the picture given here, the cultivated "field" has grown wild — it has grown into a forest, as we know happened with Judah… In such a case the very richness of the ground, and the care once spent on it, only make the wild growth thicker. It is the common story of privileges and blessings of every kind turned to the wrong use.
The fire that follows makes no distinction between living trees and dead ones. That raises an obvious question about God's fairness toward those in the land who still feared Him. One writer answers it directly:
This chapter shows the sword in Nebuchadnezzar's hand as God's judgment on the land. The judgment is so complete that it sweeps away the righteous and the wicked together; that is, the whole land was left desolate. This does not mean that God makes no difference between the righteous and the wicked. That would contradict what an earlier chapter said plainly about the seal put on those who sighed and cried to God over the people's abominations. By that seal they are placed openly under the care of the God they honored. Still, the land is swept bare, and righteous and wicked suffer together in this respect. The sword is on both. Only, as we have already seen, what is pure judgment for the one group is only a refining fire for the other. God is in it, closely watching the process that is to bring out a perfect vessel for Himself.
Ezekiel's own response is a sigh: people say he only talks in riddles. One writer answers that complaint:
God was to be glorified in it at a time when His people were not glorifying Him but dishonoring Him. The prophet's speech, however, is in parables, as the people complain. God was dealing with them in their own way. His plainest warnings had been only words to them, and since they were locked inside their own unbelief, there seemed no use in speaking more plainly. The ear that was open would hear. And if someone realized that Jehovah was speaking, the very language of parable would only make him search harder for its meaning.
The difficulty, then, was never in the wording. As Kelly puts it, "The word was plain enough; but man finds difficulties in understanding what he does not like."
- Setting. These verses start a new message that carries into chapter 21, where the fire gives way to the sword.
- Direction. "The south" points to Judah and Jerusalem, the prophet's own land; one writer thought Egypt was meant instead.
- Cause. A tended field had run wild into forest — privilege and care misused only made the overgrowth thicker.
- Reach. The flame takes green tree and dry tree alike. Outward disaster falls on everyone in the land.
- Result. God still tells the two apart. The same fire is pure judgment for one and a refining fire for the other, and He watches over it to bring out a vessel fit for Himself.
and say to the forest of the south, Hear the word of Jehovah. Thus saith the Lord Jehovah Behold, I will kindle a fire in thee, and it shall devour every green tree in thee, and every dry tree the flashing flame shall not be quenched; and all that it meets from the south to the north shall be burned thereby.
God tells Ezekiel to face south and speak against a forest. A fire is coming that will burn green wood and dry wood alike — which raises two hard questions: what land is this forest, and how can one fire treat the healthy tree and the withered one the same?
The ESV calls this "the forest of the Negeb" — the south country. The writers quoted here use the older wording, "the forest of the south field," and hear in the word "field" what the land used to be:
The idea here is that the cultivated "field" has grown wild, grown into a forest, as we know was the case with Judah... When that happens, the richness of the soil, and the care once given to it, only feed the wild growth. It is the common story of privileges and blessing of every kind turned to bad use.
Most take this south country as Judah, and read the passage as the conquest of Judea pictured as a forest on fire. But commentators differ. One writer would not say for sure, and pointed to another land:
I do not know; I would think it more likely to be Egypt. In the next chapter, we find Israel and Jerusalem.
The fire makes no distinction, and that is the point of the image:
Judgment was going out against all, whether healthy or withered... The completeness of the judgment would prove that the hand behind it was Jehovah's.
Does that mean God stops telling the righteous from the wicked? One writer names the sword that fell, then answers that the same blow does two different things:
The passage shows the sword in Nebuchadnezzar's hand as God's judgment upon the land, a judgment so complete that it sweeps away the righteous and the wicked together... It is not meant that there is no difference made between the righteous and the wicked. Still, the land is swept bare; the righteous and the wicked suffer together in this respect. The sword is upon both. Only, as we have already seen, what is pure judgment for the one class is only a refining fire for the other, and God is in it, carefully overseeing the process that will bring out a perfect vessel for Himself.
The fire spreads from south to north, the opposite of the invader's route. One writer sees the direction as pointing past the siege to what came after it:
Why this direction, when the enemy's invasion came from north to south? The hint seems to be what in fact happened: the destruction of Jerusalem would scatter the people northward, as it did, and the fire would follow them there. It was to be the unmistakable evidence of God's own judgment. God was to be glorified in it at a time when His people were not glorifying Him, but dishonoring Him.
Ezekiel's hearers dismissed him as a man who only speaks riddles. One writer says the trouble was not with the message:
The word was plain enough; but people find difficulty in understanding what they do not like.
God had a reason for using pictures with ears already shut to plain words:
God was dealing with them in their own way, for His plainest warnings had been only words to them... The ear that was opened would hear; and if a person realized that Jehovah was speaking, the very language of parable would only invite him the more to search out its meaning.
On the way to His crucifixion, Jesus spoke to the weeping women of Jerusalem. He asked them, "For if they do these things when the wood is green, what will happen when it is dry?" (Luke 23:31). One writer hears Ezekiel's parable behind that question:
Jesus Himself was the "green tree," according to Psalm 1, and perhaps He was alluding to the parable of Ezekiel 20:45-49. In that scripture God predicts a flame upon every green tree and every dry tree. Judgment fell upon the "green tree" when Christ suffered for our sakes. When the fire breaks out in the dry tree of apostate Jews, it will not be quenched.
- Privilege: the burning forest was once farmland. Rich soil and past care only feed the wild growth. That is the usual story of privilege turned to bad use.
- Fire: the flame is God's own. It burns everything in its path, and it runs north after the scattered people. Both facts prove whose hand kindled it — the LORD's.
- All alike: the disaster falls on green tree and dry tree together. Yet what is pure judgment to one is a refining fire to the other, and God stands over the process to bring out a vessel fit for Himself.
- Excuse: calling the prophet a mere teller of riddles was not a failure to understand. People find difficulty in what they do not like.
- Substitute: the flame touched the green tree first at the cross, when Christ suffered for our sakes. One writer reads the dry tree as apostate Jews, and that fire will not be quenched.
And all flesh shall see that I Jehovah have kindled it it shall not be quenched.
Ezekiel's fire-parable closes with God putting His own name to the burning. The land's ruin was no accident of politics. Everyone would trace it back to Him. Two questions press. Why does the fire take "every green tree" as well as "every dry" one? And what does it mean that no one puts it out?
Most English Bibles place this short prophecy at the end of chapter 20. Elsewhere it opens the next chapter. Its subject is a country going up in flames.
What appears in our usual Bibles as the end of chapter 20 (verses 45-49) belongs with chapter 21 in the Hebrew and in some ancient versions. It is the conquest of Judea under the image of a forest on fire... "Behold, I will kindle a fire in you, and it shall devour every green tree in you, and every dry tree." Judgment was going out against all, strong or withered... The completeness of the judgment would prove the hand of Jehovah.
A field is land someone tended. A forest is land that went wild. The change from one to the other tells the story.
The idea here is that the cultivated "field" has grown wild, grown into a forest, as we know was the case with Judah... In such a case, the very richness of the ground, and the care once given to it, only feed the wild growth. It is the common story of privileges and blessing of every kind turned to bad use.
Fire does not sort trees. Yet the same writer will not let that mean God stopped telling His own apart from the rest.
God is bringing a fire upon it, and the fire is of course the symbol of His wrath. Yet His wrath must make a distinction, which the fire does not. This is no contradiction. The outward disaster reaches all alike, and the green tree suffers with the dry. But God knows how to turn the suffering itself into blessing for His people, and eternity will reveal it.
The flame sweeps from south to north, though the invading army came the other way.
But a flame is devouring the land from south to north. Why this direction, when the enemy invaded from north to south? The hint seems to be what actually happened: the destruction of Jerusalem would scatter the people mainly northward, and the judgment would follow them there. It was to be the unmistakable evidence of God's own judgment. God would be glorified in it when His people were not glorifying Him but dishonoring Him.
Seeing this is not the same as coming to know God. Darby traces the same wording elsewhere in Ezekiel.
This knowledge of Jehovah comes through the judgment itself, not through any spiritual knowledge of Him that follows... It will be through judgment that all the nations shall know that Jehovah is God.
A fire no one puts out marks this off from every earlier warning in the chapter. Chapter 20 has just recalled how often God held back for His name's sake. Now the holding back stops.
It was now a final judgment, not a discipline. Discipline would have let the drawn sword go back into its sheath, as they had so often been spared for His name's sake, as we have seen repeated in the chapter. In fact it was a complete change in God's ways. He was taking His throne from the earth, and the times of the Gentiles were beginning.
The fire ends one system of government. It does not end God's purpose.
After the people had fully shown what they were, God changes His plan of government. He reserves for sovereign grace the re-establishment of Israel according to His promises. He would fulfil them through the One who could keep the blessing by His power, and govern the people in peace.
- Field to forest. Cared-for ground gone wild pictures privilege misused. The richer the soil, the wilder the growth once God is left out.
- Forest on fire. Judgment sweeps green tree and dry alike. The disaster reaches everyone in the land.
- Wrath that sorts. The flame makes no distinction, but God's wrath does. He turns the same suffering into blessing for His people, as eternity will reveal.
- Kindled by Him. Everyone is meant to trace the burning to its author. God is glorified in judgment when His people would not glorify Him.
- Unquenchable, then grace. This is a final sentence, not a discipline. The throne leaves the earth, and what follows rests on sovereign grace and on the One who can keep the blessing by His power.
And I said, Ah, Lord Jehovah! they say of me, Doth he not speak parables?
God has just sent Ezekiel to announce a fire in a forest, a judgment that will spare nothing, vigorous or withered. The prophet does not argue back. He sighs to God about his listeners, who write him off as a man who only talks in riddles. So was the message unclear, or was the problem in the hearers?
The picture behind the people's complaint is a forest on fire. One commentator places these verses and answers the charge that the prophet's word was obscure:
In our ordinary Bibles verses 45-49 close chapter 20. In the Hebrew and in some ancient versions they belong with chapter 21. It is the conquest of Judea under the image of a forest on fire... Judgment was going forth against all, whether vigorous or withered... The completeness of the judgment would prove the hand of Jehovah... The word was plain enough; but man finds difficulties in understanding what he does not like.
The figure is not random. Judah was cultivated ground that had run wild:
"Son of man, set your face towards the south" (in which Judah and Jerusalem were)... "and prophesy against the forest of the south field." According to the idea given here, the cultivated "field" has, as it were, grown wild, grown into a forest, as we know was the case with Judah... In such a case, the very fertility of the ground, and the care that may once have been given to it, only helps the luxuriance of the wild growth. It is the common story of perverted privileges and blessing of every kind... God is bringing a fire upon it, the symbol of His wrath — though in a sense His wrath does make distinctions, while the fire does not. The outward disaster reaches all alike, and the green tree suffers with the dry; but God knows how to turn the suffering itself into blessing for His people.
God had already warned them plainly, and the warnings bounced off. So the parable was itself part of His dealing with them:
The prophet does speak, as the people complain, in parables. God was dealing with them in their own way. His plainest warnings had been only words to them. They had shut themselves up in unbelief, and there seemed no use in speaking more plainly. An open ear would still hear. If a man knew that Jehovah was speaking, the very language of parable would only invite him to search its meaning more closely.
What the people threw at Ezekiel as an insult was in fact the mark of a teacher working the way God's own wisdom works:
Pictures like these strike the mind and grip the imagination in a special way. God is not above using such helps to catch men's attention. Everything is full of parables, if we had only the skill to read them. They are not chance comparisons. They are rooted everywhere in the very nature of things... So Ezekiel needed no excuse for being what they accused him of being: "a speaker of parables." It showed that he stood in the line of that universal teaching which divine wisdom has appointed for us, the teaching that ties itself to what is before our eyes, so that we might never lose sight of it.
Christians make the same complaint whenever they treat a picture in Scripture as beyond reach. One writer ties the old charge to what the Lord expects of His followers:
It was an old complaint about the prophets that they "spoke parables" (Ezekiel 20:49). Still, disciples at least are expected to understand them. The Lord once asked His twelve disciples, "Do you not understand this parable? How then will you understand all the parables?" (Mark 4:13). It is our shame to be like those who see but do not perceive, and hear but do not understand. The Lord does not trifle with us; He does not invite us to see what He forbids us to understand.
God does not leave the objection hanging. In His next message the picture drops away:
"Son of man, set your face toward Jerusalem... and prophesy against the land of Israel..." Here the figures fall away and plain language takes over. The slaughter would be indiscriminate, not chastening but vengeance. It is no longer a fire, but the sword.
- Picture. The forest fire is the coming conquest of Judah. God once tended this ground; now it has grown wild, its own privileges feeding the overgrowth.
- Complaint. The people dismissed the prophet as a riddler. His word was plain. The difficulty lay in their will, not in his words.
- Method. God met their deafness with parables. Plain warning had already been wasted on them, and an open ear would only dig deeper into the picture.
- Honour. "Speaker of parables" was meant as mockery. It put Ezekiel in the line of teaching divine wisdom has always used: what is before our eyes.
- Answer. Chapter 21 drops the picture and names the sword. God does not hide behind figures, and He never invites us to see what He forbids us to understand.